Improved gold-collector



1. PERRY.

Ore Washer.

Patented DPC.V 12, 1854.

No. 12,069.I

llPATI-itrr (Errol-2..

JAMES PERRY, OF; NEW YORK, N. Y.

vuvlenovlao Gmo-COLLECTOR;

Specification forming part yof Letters Patent No. 12,069, datedDecember-,127, 1854*.

' andeXact description,reference being had to.

the accompanying drawings, making part ot' this speciticatiomin whichnFigure l is a plan or top View; Fig. 2, a longitudinal vertical section;and Fig. 3, acrossvertical section, taken at the line X Xof Fig. 1.

The said drawings' represent my improved apparatus as located in the bedof apriver, and the same letters indicate like parts in all the figures.

In 'all rivers, streams, gulcl1es,ravin'es, dto.,

containing the precious metals, or inwhich such metals are found, theforce of the current.

carries the precious metals and the ores thereof down stream, mixed withstones, rocks, and other foreign substances; and the object of myinvention is to collect the metals or ores thereof or substancescontaining or mixed therewith, for the purpose of the after separationof the precious metals from such foreign substances by other means; butin collecting such substances it is important to effect, a-s nearaspracticable, a separation of the substances likely to contain theprecious metals from large -stones or rocks and other substanceswhichare carried along the beds of suchstreams bythe force of thecurrent, and one of the chief objects of my invention is to effect suchpartial separation; and as the height of water in such localities isliable to great uctuations, and

' when the waters are high the'supply of the precious metals is moreabundant thanwhen the waters are low, one of the objects of my inventionis to adapt my improved apparatus to the collection of such substancesat all heights of water, and in such manner that the substancescollected can. be obtained without removing the apparatus from the bedof the stream in which'it is located.

In the accompanying drawings, A represents the bed of a river or otherstreamwith my improved apparatus placed in a declivity thereof; but whena suitable declivity cannot be found the bottom can be excavated for thepurpose, as it is desirable to have the top on avlevel with or below thegeneral line of the bottom of the stream.

.The said appara-tus is composed of two ver- I.

tical sides, a a, inclined to each other longitudinally, so as to benear together toward the headof the stream and gradually spreading vontV toward the other end. Near the top of these two sides is a screen,B, vcomposed of bars b secured4 at proper distancesjapart by meanS ofrods and interposed collars c c, the

bars being nearer together at the up-stream end than at the other end inthe proportion of the Ydivergence ot' the two sides to vprevent cloggingor the lodgment of anything between thebars by the force of the current;and for the same reason the .bars maybe thicker at their upper edges,sothat anything that may enter between their upper edges will be s ureto' pass through. j Below the screen there is a plate, C, perforated.with ranges of holes d, there being one suchrange just under each spacebetween the bars of the screen, and this plate at the downstream endshould be at a greater distance below .the screen than itsv up-streamend for the purpose, also, of preventing any substances from lodgingbetween it and. the screen. This plate at its edges is properly securedto the two'sides a a, and the up-stream end is secured to the upper endof an inclined bottom, 3D,a nd vits down-stream end is bent over, as

represented in Fig. 2. 'The holes .in the plate edge of the plate C, anarrow slot, h, bein gleft -between this part of the plate C and thelower end of the bottom D, through which all the substances that fallthrough the holes in the y plate C onto the bottom D are dischargedinto'this trunk I. 1 p v Y The boX formed by the sides a a, the top plate, C,and the bottom D is divided into two compartments, F and Gr, by apartition, E, which is inclined longitudinally and laterally, asindicated by the arrows in Figs. 2 and 3. From this it will be seen thatthe substances which pass through the largest holes in the plate O intothe compartment Gr will run down to one corner by reason of the doubleinclination of the partition E, and near the lowest corner there is anaperture, e, governed by a valve, K, which, when opened, will permit thesubstances in the compartment G to fall into the transverse trunk I; butso long as this valve is closed the substances collected in thecompartment G will be kept separate from those discharged from thccompartment F into the trunk.

Beyond the down-stream end of the plateG there is a pocket orreceptacle, H, formed by a curved perforated plate, g, attached to theend of the screen B and to a bottom,f, which is inclined from one sideto the other, like the partition E, and a hole is cut in the plate C,governed, also, by the valve K, before described, which has two wings,z' and j. The purpose of this pocket or receptacle H is to catch thesubstances that pass between the bars of the screen and thatfail to passthrough the holes of the plate C. The heavier portions of the substancesthus entering the pocket H will run downthe inclined bottom to the valveK, while the lighter matter will be washed away by the current of waterthroguh the holes in the plate yg and at the sides.

lThe trunk I communicates with the lower end of a vertical trunk orreceptacle, J, which extends above the level of high water y y, andwhich is provided with an elevator, M, of the usual construction, andconsisting of a belt or chain provided with buckets and passing around adrum at top and one at bottom, for the purpose of elevating thesubstances which are collected by the apparatus and discharged into thisvertical trunk; but it is not absolutely necessary to have this trunk sohigh as to extend above the high-water mark. It may be made of lessheight, as in many localities when the water rises to a great height itsoon subsides, and then access can be had to the substances which havebeen collected in the meantime.

, The valve K is attached to one end of a rod, 7c, that passes throughthe trunk I, the other end of which is connected witha crank at thelower end of a vertical rod, Z, by which the valve is operated, the saidrod extending up to the top of the trunk J. At the junction of thetrunks I and J there is a gate, Il, operated by a rod, m, to close oropen the passage between the two.

To avoid the necessity of making the apparatus of great width, and yetto insure the passage of the washin gs of the whole stream over it,wings W W, constructed of any suitable material, may be arranged at theforward end, and spreading out to the sides of the stream and properlysecured to the bottom, so that the whole force of the current, togetherwith the substances carried by it, will be directed toward theapparatus.

The apparatus, as well as the wings, may bc secured to the bottoni inany suitable manner known to engineers, and, as stated before, locatedon a declining portion of the bottom or in an excavation made for it, soas to have the screen on the general line of the bottom, and being thuslocated the dbris containing gold or other precious substances desiredto be collected are carried over the screen by the force of the current,and in passing over the large stones, &c.,will pass over the bars of thescreen, while the smaller particles will fall between the bars onto theperforated plate C, and the small particles of gold and other precioussubstances will fall through the small holes d in the front part of theplate and run down the inclined bottom D and through the slot 7L at thelower end thereof into the trunk I. The larger particles with more ofthe dbris will pass through the larger holes d into the compartment Grand run down the double declivity of the partitionE to the valve K, andthere collect until the valve is opened; but so long as the valve isclosed the agitation due to the force of the current of water will tendto float up and out the lighter substances that may fall through, andthe still larger particles that pass through the screen and not throughthe holes d will fall in'to the pocket H and run down the inclinedbottom thereof to the valve K, the force of the current washin g andsepa rating the lighter substances and carrying them out through theholes in the plate g, so that by the time the valve K is opened much ofthe foreign substances will have been carried away, and what remainswill pass through the valve into the trunk I, and thence into thevertical trunk J, thence to be taken out by the elevator or othersuitable means. The substances thus collected are then to be treated inany suitable manner to separate the gold or Y other precious substancesfrom the remaining debris or foreign substances unavoidably collectedtherewith in my improved apparatus, which is only intended forcollecting the matter from which the gold or other precious substance isto be separated.

It will be obvious from the foregoing that the mode, of construction ofmy improved apparatus may be greatly varied without changing the mode ofoperation, which distinguishes it from other things before known, andtherefore I wish it to be distinctly understood that I do not limitmyself to the special mode of construction, but claim the right to varythe construction so long as the same end is attained by equivalentmeans.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1, Collecting the matter containing gold and other precious substancesin the beds of rivers,

ravines, gulches, 85o., carried along by the force of the stream, byplacing in the bottom of such stream a box or other vessel with aperforated plate at top and an inclined bottom discharging into areceiving-trunk or equivalent therefor, substantially as described, sothat theparticles that pass through the holes in bein g washed over withthe dbris by the force of the stream will. gradually descend on theinclined bottom and be discharged in to the trunk, while the lightersubstances floating will escape through the holes in the top'plate, asset forth.

2. Making the holes in the top plate of such v an apparatus largertoward the rear end, as described, in combination 'with thecompa-rtments formed by the inclined partition dividing the inside intocompartments with inclined bottoms leading to the trunk, substantiallyas described.

3. In combination with an apparatus Vsubstantially such as specified,the employment of a top screen composed of bars, substantially asspecified, to protect the perforated plate l from the injurious actionof large masses passin g over it and to aid in keeping the holes in thesaid perforated plate from being clogged, as set forth.

4. The pocket at the lower end of the apparatus, in which are collectedthe precious substances that pass over the perforations in the topplate, when this is combined with the said perforated plate, and thecompartments and trunk below it, substantially as specilied. and for thepurpose set forth.

5. The vertical trunk or equivalent receptacle, substantially asspecitied, and with or without an elevator, in combination with thehorizontal trunk and the compartments below the perforated plate,substantially as specified, whereby the substances collected in theapparatus can be withdrawn therefrom without removing the apparat-nsfrom its location, as set forth.

JAMES PERRY.

Witnesses:

WM. H. BISHOP, ANDREW DE LACY.

